Door operating motor means for gable bottom cars



E. O. LUNDE July 7, 1959 DOOR OPERATING MOTOR MEANS FOR GABLE BOTTOM CARS Filed Sept. 30. 1953 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 mum f/VkE/VTOA. Z. 0i ads.

ATTOIFA t' y 1959 E. o. LUNDE 2,893,327 I DOOR OPERATING MOTOR MEANS FOR GABLE BOTTOM CARS Filed Sept. 30, 1953 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Z70. Zea/20 e,

ATTORNEY E. O. LUNDE July 7, 1959 DOOR OPERATING MOTOR MEANS FOR GABLEBOTTOM CARS Filed Sept. 50. 1953 6 Sheets-Sheet C5 INVENTOR Z Ola/29 e,

ATTORNEY l959 E. o. LUNDE I 2,893,327 I DOOR OPERATING MOTOR MEANS FOR GABLE BOTTOM CARS Filed Sept. 30, 1953 I 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 f/VVf/VTOR Z Q Z 81/70 6.

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y 7, E. o. LUNDE 2,893,327

DOOR OPERATING MOTOR MEANS FOR CABLE BOTTOM CARS Filed Sept. 30. 953 a Sheets-Sheet s f/VVf/VTOR. Z 0 Z0270??? ATTORNEY y 1959 E. o. LUNDE 2,893,327

DOOR OPERATING MOTOR MEANS FOR CABLE BOTTOM CARS Filed Sept. 30. 1953 a Sheets-Sheet a IN VEN TOR. Z 0 lax/70 6.

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ATTO/P/VE'X United States Patent 2 8 3 'PDQR-OPERATING MOTOR MEANS FOR This'invention'relates to-door operating motor means L- fioi' gablei,bottomjcarsl c iThe inventioni'z is more particularly concernedwvith al've controlled pneumatic. operating means'for, effecting w opening' aird 'clo'si-ng movements offthel-idoors on;g'able bottom cars and a primary object -1of:the inventiomis to provide' an 'operating.shaft extending longitudinally of -Ta'. g'able' 'bottom c'ar havingroutwardly swingingsdoors, iinkagefconnectionsi between the. operating shaft and the doors, latch controlled mechanism for rotating; the; shaft 'iandzafpiie umatic operating cylinder I for'tractuati'ng the shaft rotatingfmechanisrm 3 A fiurther objectofithe vinvention is to .pro,vide an air resei-VoirE and a lnovel'tarrangement of vvalves rfor. conitrolli'ngs the flow 1 of air. to one oi-(the other endtof; the vloperatingcylinder fome'ifectingopening or closing'of the 31 V s r. TH .l t still: furtherobject of the. invention isto .provide for \-'the maintenance of air pressure in "the-operating.cylinder at lallictimes'lwhereby the doors are retained closed mpositionssby, the said airpressuretwithinhthe operating 1:; cylinder. r l i 1 fArStiHI further; .object of the invention is to provide :novel latch mechanism which supplementsrthes said air "Npressurein maihtainingthe doors closed:

kOthe'rhobjects and advantages; of the. invention. will V beoome;.-apparent in the course of :the following, detailed description taken in connectiongwiththe-accompanying zdrawings,j,wherein,-' ".1Eigul'isla diagrammatic plan view disclosing the geni ii:eral.1'afrangeihent of the pnelnnatici 'control. meansfor :thezdoor-roperating mechanism;

Fig. 2 is a fragmental plan view showing one end of a Lear frametyviththe"door1operatingimechanism supported Fig.3. is a sidelelevational-view of oneoend ofa car ibodyawithi-the, gloorlvoperating meehanisms shown in HDBSI .T n in, 5. e ig. 4 is an endselevational view of the car body-showltheioperating mechanisrnzin a position with -'the car dlOOrs closed. e

view showing only the operating shaftandsleversasso en os'ition in. dotted: lines.

'g. 6ljis a/YEW of the; gear and latch. assembly. and being partly in elevation and partly in vertical section.

'g.;.8;;is, an end elevational view-lqof the structure observed in the plane of line Ill-.11 on Fig. 9.

opepafingixcylinder ,control valve embodied in the inven- Fig.f'7';.is. a' top .planiview. .of "the structure shown in sallongitudinal vertical sectional views of an Fig. 12 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the automatic valve.

Referring now in detail to the drawings and first to ,Fig. 1 thereof, the'eontrol arrangement"isshown jfor vsimultaneousoperation of a group of cars. In said figure,

"'10 designates'an air reservoirs into one end of which is required brakingpressure has been established in 'the train brake linefi'The conduitfll is preferablyfurther 'connectedfan airisupply conduit 11 which is in tu rn'connected to thetrainfairbrake line. "The conduit 11 is provided with a a governor valve 12 which operates to preclude'flowoff'any air from thebrake line until the provided with a cut out' jcock f1 3 'provided with" ariair 1 vent.

It is, however to be observed that thesupplying of air from ,the; train brake line isonly a matter of choice since .air may b'eadmi'tt'edto the res'ervoir'10 by means j whlolly Qindependentof'the train brake. system.

An operatingfcy1inder14 is provided with a piston 15 whose" stem; 16 extends" through one end of the "cylinder and the stein adjacent it's outer end is provided with an aperture 17 for a purpose later to appear".

i As indicated in Fig. 1, the piston 15 is at, the-extreme left end of the cylinder 14 and} in vwhich position the car doors are-held in closed position.

In this position "of thepiston, air pressure, from, the

reservoir-1'0 isadr nite'd tothe right hand end of th'e'cylinder 14 thereby hel ling vthezpiston in its left hand: position as shown. 1

' Air is, admitted to, the right handend of thesoperating cylinder '14 from the reservoir 10 through conduit 18,

eonduit 1:9 havingione jend thereof in communication an operating cylinder control .valve 20 and a conduit 21 whose opposite ends ,are in communication.-with. said \gontrol -valve and the right handfend of cylinder! I QAtflth samettime reservoir air flows into the,,,upper connection; wit an automatic valve 22 through cofnduits 18 and the oppositelend of the latter being incom- .,munication :with the saidaupper connection .22 11so, ,at the same time, reservoir-air fl0WS.:iIll;0 theinletcon- {,riectilonf23 ofadumpyalveM through conduit; 1:8;ai1d a conduit 25. At this time ai'r is exhausted from the left hand end of the operating cylinder-14 through conduit 26 and conn'ection 22 to atmospherethrough the automatic yalve 22 as "indicated in Fig 12; flheautomatic-valve 22 is otherwiselgenerally of-the same construction as, disclosed E Jinimy impending, application, Serial No. 1031,476, filed 1 July 7, l-l9'49,now' Patent;No 2-, 699 ,l26. The dump alve structure is disclosed in my co-pending application,- Serial Underfhe" above. conditions, there is no air pressure in the operating line 27 or in any of the branchlines con- "neuea merete and in which conditions, the dump valve t aZFig. ..5a mOI'CODIeSS diagrammatic end elevational operatinghandle28fwi1l be ;in the horizontal position shown in Fig. 1 with ,both theinlet and exhaust valves of the dump valve structure seated.

In addition to the holding action of the piston 15, the

icarldoorllinkag'e "(later described) is locked in the closed position "byiineans' of an automatic latch in a gear and unit Kla ter described).

handle 28is placed in the'upper-positiom This opens the inletvalve of thedump 'valve' 24 and permits reservoir air to qflow into the operating'line on all of the cars and thereby energize the lower portion of the automatic valve .fse'xhaustf connection' and" permit reservoir "*The automatic valve then; functions to closecoif the 'eflOW through the conduit 26 to the lower chamber 30 of the control valve 20 (shown in detail in Figs. 9, and 11).

' The action 'of the operating control valve will then exhaust the air from the right hand end of the cylinder 14. Air pressure in the left hand end of cylinder 14 will force the piston 15 toward the right and actuate the gear and latch unit (shown in detail in Figs. 6 to 8) so as to first release the latch and then rotate the operating shaft and door linkage thereby effecting the opening of the doors.

In order to close the car doors 29, the dump valve handle 28 is placed in the lower position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1. With this position of the handle 28, the inlet valve of the dump valve 24 is closed and the exhaust valve is opened, thereby exhausting air from the operating line 27 and all of its branches.

Under these conditions, the flow of reservoir air through the automatic valve is cut off. At the same time, air in the left end of the cylinder 14 and in the lower chamber 30 of the control valve is exhausted through the automatic valve 22 to atmosphere. This also closes the exhaust port in the operating control valve and permits air to flow through this valve, and conduit 21 and thence into the right hand end of cylinder 14 with a resulting action of the doors 29 being closed and latched.

After exhausting the air from the operating line 27, the dump valve handle 28 is placed in the solid line horizontal position (Fig. 1) in which both inlet and exhaust valves are seated. The operating handle 28 should remain in this position until the car doors are to be operated.

The foregoing. disclosure applies to a condition wherein a train of cars are arranged for multiple operation. With the present arrangement, however, it is also possible to operate any car individually if so desired. However, in cases where the cars are always operated individually, the dump valve 24 can be replaced by, the operating valve 31 (disclosed in my Patent No. 2,588,133) with a corresponding omission of the operating line 27. With this arrangement, the settings on the handle 28' of the operating valve 31 will correspond to the above described settings of the handle 28 on the dump valve 24.

The operating cylinder control valve above referred to and shown in detail in Figs. 9, 10 and 11 have the parts thereof shown in the positions obtaining when the piston 15 is in the door closed position of Fig. 1. In this setting of the control valve 20, air has been exhausted from the above referred to lower chamber 30 and reservoir air is admitted through conduit 19 into the chamber 32. This forces the piston 33 down and causes the pop valve 34 to seat on the gasket 35. The air in chamber 36 then exhausts to atmosphere through outlet 37 and the air in chamber 32 will flow through conduit 21 to the operating cylinder 14 as indicated in Fig. 1.

When reservoir air is admitted to the chamber 30 through branch conduit 38 (Fig. 1) the over-balance condition in the valve 20 will cause the piston 33 to rise and the piston face will seat at 39. This will confine the air pressure from conduit 19 to the annular chamber 40 and the air from conduit 21 will flow upward past the pop valve 34 into the chamber 36 and exhaust to atmosphere through outlet 37.

It will be noted from Fig. 1 that under this last condition, the pressure in chamber 30 of the control valve 20 also communicates with the left end of cylinder 14. The control valve 20, as indicated in Fig. 9, preferably comprises a casing including a lower section 41, an upper section 42 and an intermediate section 43 which are connected by bolts 44 and intervening gaskets 45, and the sections 43 and 41 are provided with tapped openings 46, 47 and 48 for the conduits 19, 21 and 38 respectively.

Furthermore, air pressure seals 49 are preferably provided at the points indicated in Fig. 9.

The gear and latch unit is shown in detail in Figs. 6, 7 and 8 and is designated in its entirety as 50. This unit shown in the closed door position comprises a frame 51 including opposite side walls 52 and a bottom wall 53.

As is indicated in Figures 2 and 3, the gear and latch unit 50 is disposed within a compartment C adjacent an end of a car and which compartment is defined by opposite side wall portions and an end wall of the car together with an angularly disposed Wall W.

Rotatably supported in the opposite side walls 52 is a cylindrical shaft-gear coupling member 54 having a squared portion of a power operating shaft 55 disposed therein and which extends throughout the length of the car.

A gear 56 is freely rotatably supported on the member 54 and is provided with an arcuate recess 57 of approximately extent and in which is disposed the outer end of a key 58 whose inner end is fixed in the member 54.

Rotatably supported in the frame 51 is a pinion 59 below the gear 56 and in driving mesh therewith. Disposed within the pinion 59 is the squared portion of a hand operating shaft 60 which extends to an end of the car for receiving a suitable ratchet assembly for turning the shaft when the hand operation of the doors is feasible or necessitated.

Secured to the gear-shaft coupling member 54 is an extension 61 which is rotatable with the coupling member and if held against rotation the doors are incapable of operation.

In order to lock the said extension against rotation, a latch member 62 is provided. The latch member includes an open rectangular portion 63 which at one end thereof is pivoted to the frame 51 as at 64 and the latch member further includes a downwardly extending cam portion 65 at the opposite end of the rectangular portion.

A coil spring 66 has one end thereof connected to the frame 51 and the opposite end thereof is connected to the latch member 62 for normally urging same downwardly with the upper end of extension 61 disposed within the open rectangular portion 63 and normally in contact with the end wall thereof adjacent the cam portion 65.

A rack gear 67 is supported within the frame 51 for horizontal movement therein and which at its outer end is provided with an aperture 68 which together with the aperture 17 in the outer end of the operating cylinder piston rod 16 receives a pin for connecting same for unison axial movement.

The rack gear 67 is in driving mesh with the gear 56 and at its inner end is provided with a roller 69 which rides on a platform 70 in the frame 51 and the roller normally engages the cam portion 65 of the latch member 62.

In a door opening operation, the rack gear 67 will be moved to the left in Fig. 6 with a resulting rotation of gear 56 and pinion 59. In the initial movement of the rack gear and gear 56 the operating shaft 55 will not be rotated since the key will freely ride in the recess 57. During this initial movement however, the roller 69 will ride along the lower surface of the latch member cam portion 65 and raise the latch from the solid line position to the dotted line position in Fig. 6 and thereby free the extension 61.

When upon continued rotation of gear 56, the shoulder S at one end of recess 57 engages the key 58, the operating shaft 55 will be rotated for effecting the opening of the car doors. i

As is shown in Figs. 2 to 5, the door operating linkage is indicated at 71 and while in said figures only end portions of a car are illustrated, such linkage engages the doors 29 at suitable longitudinally spaced points. Each linkage comprises a pair of lever arms 72 disposed in slightly laterally spaced relation and which as indicated in Fig. 2, are preferably of bifurcated form.

A pair of bars 73 have their inner ends pivotally connected to the outer ends of lever arms 72 and at their outer ends are pivotally connected to laterally opposed doors 29 as at 74.

It will be particularly noted that as indicated in Fig. 5,

the pivotal connections 75 between the lever arms and bars are disposed at respectively opposite sides of the axis of shaft 55 for a more effective leverage action.

It should be appreciated from the above disclosure that in accordance with the present invention novel means are provided for effective control of the doors on bottom gable cars and that such means require a minimum of effort on the part of an operator and with an assurance of proper control at all times and under all conditions.

While I have disclosed my invention in accordance with a single specific structural embodiment thereof, such is to be considered as illustrative only and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being defined in the sub-joined claims.

What I claim and desire to secure by U.S. Letters Patent is:

1. Means for operating a pair of laterally opposed outwardly swinging doors having their upper edges pivotally supported on a gable bottom car having a closed compartment at an end thereof; comprising, a frame supported by the car intermediate said doors and being disposed within said compartment, said frame including opposed spaced parallel walls extending transversely of the car, a cylindrical member rotatably supported in said walls, a shaft extending longitudinally of the car intermediate said doors and extending through said cylindrical member and having a non-rotational drive engagement therewith, a linkage between each door and said shaft comprising a pair of lever arms having corresponding ends thereof secured to said shaft with the free ends thereof on opposite sides of the shaft, and a bar having one end thereof pivotally connected to the free end of each lever arm and the opposite ends of the bars being pivotally connected at the respective doors, said cylindrical member being provided with a rigid radial extension, latch means pivotally supported by said frame engaging said extension in the closed position of the doors for retaining said cylindrical member against rotation, a gear journalled on said cylindrical member, lost motion drive means between said cylindrical member and said gear comprising an arcuate recess in said gear and a key projecting from said cylindrical member engaging one end of said recess in the closed position of the doors,

a gear operating rack slidably supported on said frame, means supported by said rack engageable with said latch means for releasing same during movement of said key from said one end of the recess toward the other end thereof Whereafter the gear rotates said shaft with a resulting movement of said doors, and means for operating said rack.

2. The structure according to claim 1, together with a pinion rotatably supported in said frame beneath said gear and in driving mesh therewith, a hand operating shaft connected to said pinion for rotation therewith, and said hand operating shaft extending to an end of the car for hand operation of the doors when said extension is free of said latch means.

3. The structure according to claim 1, wherein said latch means comprises a latch member having one end thereof pivotally supported on said frame and having an open rectangular portion for receiving said extension, the other end of said latch member having a cam portion, and a roller on the forward end of said gear operating rack operative to engage said cam portion and release said extension from said rectangular portion during said movement of said key toward said other end of said recess.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 95,717 Noling Oct. 12, 1869 311,789 Simmerly Feb. 3, 1885 780,761 Otis Jan. 24, 1905 871,885 Page Nov. 26, 1907 944,506 Ryan Dec. 28, 1909 976,411 Tesseyman et al. Nov. 22, 1910 1,293,954 Skidmore Feb. 11, 1919 1,297,356 Junghanns Mar. 18, 1919 1,493,675 Immand May 13, 1924 2,198,031 Farmer Apr. 23, 1940 2,366,044 McCune Dec. 26, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS 392,921 France Oct. 10, 1908 316,537 Germany Nov. 29, 1919 171,754 Great Britain Nov. 16, 1921 

